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Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery

#1: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:06 pm
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I had a great opportunity to visit the field artillery collection in Thun. This display is only visible upon request.
time was limited and the collection is large, I've started uploading pictures on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/...833061682/

This time I will focus on just mountain artillery, and I will try to move in chronological order. This way we could see also how the Swiss Army moved from Krupp to Bofors designs

4 pdr Gebirgskanone 1864 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Last edited by Massimo_Foti on Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

#2: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:07 pm
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Wonder if this was already a Krupp design... I don't have documentation on it, sorry

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1877 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#3: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:10 pm
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7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1877/93 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#4: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:13 pm
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The 1895 version was missing from Thun's display, but I have pictures of it from Solothurm's Arsenal Museum.
Funny thing, it has been recently discovered that the Armeemuseum Foundation own the rights for all the heavy hardware currently in Solothurm, seems like they were loaned to Solothurm around 80-90 years ago, but they aren't owned by the Museum. In the end, at some point, this and other pieces may move.

This kind of remind me I should go back to Solothurm, since they have a few unique pieces, not visible elsewhere. Even if it's dark as hell over there and flash is forbidden Crying or Very sad

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1895 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#5: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:16 pm
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7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1906 test version by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#6: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:18 pm
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The cute little gun from Krupp was adopted, without the shield used on the test model above:

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1906 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#7: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:19 pm
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Occasionally this shield was used instead:

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1906 with shield by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#8: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:23 pm
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After WW I the Swiss Army started looking elsewhere for artillery and in the early thirties established a relationship with Bofors that lasted a few decades. This is the first Bofors-designed gun adopted by the Swiss Army:

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1933 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Our Army traditionally tries to avoid waste, so at one point the old Krupp-designed 1906 guns were adapted to fire the new ammo designed for the Bofors too.
You can see one here:
www.flickr.com/photos/...3833061682

#9: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:25 pm
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The Bofors design evolved, here you can see metal wheels with solid rubber:

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1938 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#10: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:26 pm
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Here is its final incarnation:

7,5 cm Gebirgskanone 1933/48 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

#11: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: lovett155, Location: Falls Church/Washington DC

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:50 pm
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Thanks for posting these mountain Howitzer photos.

The Krupp 7,5cm Gebirgskanone is very similar to my Chilean Krupp 7,5cm Gebirgskanone L/13:

lovettartillery.com/7...._L_13.html

R/

Ralph Lovett

#12: Re: Thun. Armeemuseum. The mountain artillery Author: Massimo_Foti, Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:21 am
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Glad to see you Ralph. Yes, you can see they share a similar Krupp's heritage.

On the very same hall I saw a bunch of WW I minenwerfer and trench guns that were tested by the Swiss Army but never entered in service. Still those test models were preserved and almost a century later are in pretty good shape. Unfortunately they aren't labeled and I was able to identify only around half of them. As far as I know they were all either of German or Austrain origin. I would love to get some help.

Here is a trench/light gun:
www.flickr.com/photos/...hotostream

Granatenwerfer?:
www.flickr.com/photos/...hotostream

Something I never seen before:
www.flickr.com/photos/...hotostream

This one isn't new to me, but I can't find the exact id:
www.flickr.com/photos/...hotostream

This should be an Austrian 22 cm minenwerfer of Bohler design, but a few details don't match other pictures:
www.flickr.com/photos/...hotostream

This minenwerfer has something in common with the German 7.6 cm, but I am not sure about it either:
www.flickr.com/photos/...hotostream

Thanks in advance!

Massimo

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